Conrad Wilson

With works such as La Bohème and Madame Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) created some of the world s most popular and widely performed operas. His colourful orchestrations, beautiful melodies, rare theatrical sensibility, and daring choices of subject matter combined to produce timeless stage works that continue to appeal to a broad audience. In this powerful biography, Conrad Wilson examines this great composer s works and the ways in which they were influences by his many relationships with women and his contradictory personality.Giacomo Puccini is part of Phaidon s successful 20th Century Composers series, which presents authoritative and engaging biographies of the great creative musicians of our time, augmented by striking visual material and essential reference information. This edition of the book features a whimsical new cover by Jean-Jacques Sempé, the world-renowned illustrator and cartoonist.